


Barnes & Murdock

by weethreequarter



Series: Providence [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 2012 Alternative Timeline, Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Developing Relationship, Espionage, Father-Daughter Relationship, First Kiss, First Time, Human Disaster Bucky Barnes, Human Disaster Matt Murdock, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Marvel Bingo 2019, Matt Murdock & Foggy Nelson Friendship, Matt Murdock Needs a Hug, Minor Foggy Nelson/Marci Stahl, Nicknames, Protective Bucky Barnes, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-05-19 04:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19349488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weethreequarter/pseuds/weethreequarter
Summary: When Fisk is released from prison, Matt doesn't see the point anymore. So he gets drunk. Like, really drunk. Which was probably not the best idea he's ever had. But it leads him to meeting Bucky Barnes, which turns out to be all kinds of awesome. So maybe it wasn't the worst idea in the world.When T'Challa sends him back to New York on a mission, Bucky just wants to get in and out without drawing Steve's attention. Because that's a conversation he is so not ready to have yet. But then he saves Matt Murdock from getting him drunk ass kicked, and that leads to teamwork and feelings and way more than Bucky was prepared for. But it might just also lead to his happy ending. So it's not all bad.Marvel Bingo 2019 - Bucky Barnes/Matt Murdock





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first in a series of stories, all of which take place in my version of the 2012 Alternative Timeline that was created when Steve, Tony, Scott and Bruce went back to 2012 in Endgame. As such, everything after the first Avengers is basically up in the air, and I'm playing with canon. There's not much on what the Avengers have been/are up to in this one, but that will be addressed in future stories.
> 
> Bucky/Matt came into my head when I first watched Daredevil series 3, and I've been obsessed with the idea of those two ever since. As such, the original idea for this story was very heavily based on series 3, but then it took it's own turn, and other characters suddenly turned up, and what do you know, here we are. There are still references to series three in the plot. Bear in mind that because this is the diverging timeline, past events that are referenced don't match up with the series because, as with everything else in the universe, their stories changed when they changed history. 
> 
> There are no Endgame spoilers here, other than the fact that they create a divergent timeline when they went into the past. Endgame and Thanos doesn't happen in this verse. I'm establishing that now.
> 
> There is brief mention of attempted non-con in chapter one, but nothing happens. If you're uncomfortable with that sort of thing, you can still read the story and skip that part. Stop reading when Matt starts talking about the two assholes in the alley, and rejoin after the kid leaves the alley. If you're unsure, feel free to shoot me a message. Tumblr link is at the bottom of the page.

“Can you believe this?” Foggy muttered, folding his arms and glaring at the laptop as if it was personally responsible for the early release of Wilson Fisk. “Everything he did and they’re just letting him go?” He shook his head, disappearing into the office kitchen.

Matt clenched his fists, listening to the reporter narrating every moment of Fisk’s release, his jaw growing tighter and tighter until he could swear he could hear the bones creak.

After everything he’d done, everything he lost, he’d fought and bled to get Fisk locked up, after all that and they just let him go with a rap on the wrists and a _Don’t do it again_. 

What, exactly, was he fighting for?

X

Foggy cried off early, going home to Marci and his waterside apartment. Matt didn’t blame him. If he had something like that - a great relationship, with someone who loved him as much as he loved them - he’d probably do the same. But Matt didn’t have any of that, because he’d believed he was following a higher cause, doing God’s work, making the world a better place as He wanted. He’d thrown everything away in order to catch people like Fisk, to make the city a safer place, and then they just let Fisk get away with it anyway.

What the hell was the point?

So Matt ignored the voice in his head that told him to suit up and scope out Fisk’s new penthouse apartment, to start building a case to prove exactly why Wilson Fisk should be locked up and the key thrown away. He ignored it, and went to Josie’s instead, where he ordered a bottle of vodka and settled in the get blind drunk. 

(Pun intended)

“What do You want from me?” he muttered, somewhere around the sixth shot. 

He could sense Josie’s looks of concern, but Matt ignored them, slumping against the bar with his head in one hand. His cell phone buzzed in his pocket, chirping, “ _Foggy… Foggy… Foggy…_ ” until he switched it off. He really didn’t feel like talking about it. Now, or maybe even ever.

He probably would’ve spent the night right there on that barstool - at least until he fell off - if it wasn’t for the two assholes in the alley next door.

Being drunk messed with Matt’s mind, so he rarely allowed himself to get really drunk. It was like being constantly dizzy, everything was somehow both muted and too loud all at once, and he _hated_ it. But he still heard those assholes and their teasing that was decidedly not friendly, backing a kid up against the wall and leering at him. 

Matt threw a handful of notes onto the bar and stumbled out of the bar.

“No,” he heard the kid insists trying to push the assholes’ persistent hands off of him.

“Hey,” Matt called, with more strength in his voice than he expected.

The two assholes paused.

“Move along,” Asshole One growled.

“Leave him alone,” Matt said, entering the alley with only the barest of tilts to the right.

“I said leave,” Asshole One replied.

“No,” Matt retorted, and swung for him. He missed, but hit Asshole Two instead, so it wasn’t a complete loss.

The kid raced out of the alley, now that the attention was all on Matt, and he felt a rush of victory. He could save this kid, even if he couldn’t save the city. That wasn’t nothing. But then Asshole One delivered a breathtaking uncut to his cut, and Matt turned all his attention onto trying to breathe. 

He managed to get in a few good hits, but he was drunk and outnumbered, which meant that his usual advantages were long gone, somewhere around the tenth shot mark. He was slammed into the brick wall, sliding down to the damp asphalt.

“Stay down,” one of the Asshole’s - he’d lost track of who was who - growled.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Matt’s feet scrabbled for purchase, finally taking hold as he hauled himself to his feet - although, to be honest, the wall was doing a lot of the work for him, and he would be in big trouble if anyone took the wall away from him - and grinned at them.

“I can do this all night,” he declared.

Which was probably a lie.

Asshole One - or Two, or whatever, who cared? - wound up his arm, ready to punch Matt again.

Only to be grabbed by the elbow and thrown backwards. Matt blinked. The other one, which one he was, followed similarly; his punch block, a blow to the gut, then tossed onto the ground, followed by a swift kick to the gut.

“Get outta here,” a new voice growled.

The Assholes scrambled to their feet and limped out of the alley as quickly as their fit could carry them.

While Matt slipped back down onto the ground, his legs giving out beneath him, he found himself assaulted by information on his saviour.

_Long hair, brushing his collar, heart beat slow and controlled, metal, worn boots, leather creaking, gold and something else, jacket newly washed, gun in his waistband, unfamiliar metal, copper and peppermint and bergamot, a knife on his ankle, strong, definitely strong, a sweet chilli wrap eaten three hours ago…_

“Hey. Hey pal?”

_Brooklyn accent. With a hint of something Slavic._

A hand was shaking his shoulder.

“You with me?”

_Dangerous._

_Safe._

“I’m okay,” Matt slurred.

His saviour snorted.

“No, you’re not. Come on, buddy,” he hoisted Matt up easily, swinging one of his arms across a pair of board shoulders, before settling a hand on Matt’s waist. “Let’s get you to a hospital.”

“No hospitals,” Matt replied automatically.

“I gotta get you check-“

“No hospitals,” Matt insisted.

Which, okay, he wasn’t in his costume, but still. He didn’t want to go to hospital, not for anything. He didn’t like the sounds and the smells. He could hear people dying, could hear the moments when their heart beats just stopped, and he couldn’t deal with the assault of all that when he was drunk off his ass.

He could feel the stranger’s eyes on him, and tried to look better than he felt.

“Fine. Stubborn asshole,” he muttered eventually. “Where am I taking you then?”

Matt managed to give garbled directions back to his place, only getting them lost once which, considering he was both drunk and in a lot of pain, was not bad, he thought. All things considered. 

“Don’t suppose you live on the ground floor?” his new friend asked when they reached his building.

“Top floor,” Matt gasped.

Yeah. Stairs. He didn’t think about that. That… was going to suck.

“Alright. Screw it,” his friend muttered. “Hang on,” he instructed, before hoisting Matt up in a fireman’s lift and climbing the stairs as though Matt weighed nothing more than a bag of groceries.

“Your respiratory system is amazing,” Matt mumbled.

He felt the chuckle that elicited. It was a nice sound. He liked it.

“I don’t know if you’re just really drunk, or you’re hitting on me.”

“Could be both.”

“If you were hitting on me, you’d be complimenting my ass, not my respiratory system.”

“I’m sure it’s nice too,” Matt shrugged, sloppily patting his back, which earned him another chuckle. And yeah, he really liked that sound.

“Thanks,” his friend said wryly.

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes. Key.”

“Uh, jacket pocket.”

Matt was placed gently back onto his feet, a hand on his back keeping him steady while a second hand snuck under his jacket to retrieve his key. Matt cocked his head.

“Do you have a metal arm?”

“Well done. In we go.”

The door opened and Matt stumbled inside, collapsing onto his sofa with a hiss as he fell straight onto his bruises. 

“Jesus, you are a disaster. First Aid kit?”

“Kitchen. Top drawer,” Matt groaned. 

He heard the drawer open and close, then footsteps approach.

“Alright, sit up.”

Matt pouted. Another sigh, then he felt hands grasp his jacket and help him upright. He grinned.

“Thank you.”

“I repeat. A fucking disaster. What’s your name?”

“Matt. Who are you?”

“Bucky. So Matt, how about we skip the part where we both pretend that we’re totally normal, and get straight to the part where we tell each other the truth? Huh?”

“What do you mean?” Matt frowned.

He didn’t quite follow. His brain was a little busy focusing on the warm hands lifting his glasses from his face and helping him out of his jacket. Bucky smelled nice. 

“Your pupils are non-responsive to light. You're blind. But even drunk you fight better than most people do sober. And I’m pretty sure that when you complimented my respiratory system, you could hear it. Wanna tell me how that happens?”

“Got blinded as a kid,” Matt shrugged, and winced.”Chemicals. Took away my sight, but made my other senses… bigger?”

“Stronger?”

“That one,” he nodded. “I’m the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.”

“The what?” Bucky frowned, pausing as he mopped up the cut of Matt’s forehead that, he suddenly realised, was bleeding kind of a lot. 

“Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Daredevil?”

“I’ve been outta town,” Bucky shrugged. “Are you an Avenger or something?”

For the first time, Matt noticed a slight change in Bucky’s heart rate, at the mention of the Avengers. He snorted.

“I’m a vigilante,” he replied, “With two sticks and a God complex. What about you? You carried me upstairs and you didn’t even break a sweat.” 

“Yeah. I did, didn’t I?” Bucky hummed.

“You’re the one who said we should tell each other the truth,” Matt reminded him. “I could always kick your ass.”

Bucky snorted.

“No, you couldn’t,” he replied, closing the first aid kit. “Cause I’m the Winter Soldier,” he finished, patting Matt on the cheek. “Get some sleep, cupcake. Stop gaping. You’ll catch flies.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt is hungover, Bucky is a snoop, and Fisk is up to something.

“Oh God…” Matt groaned. He tried burrowing further into his pillow, but the sound of his beard catching on the silk sheets made his teeth hurt. He whined. “Kill me now…”

A low chuckle - which still sounded nice - alerted him to the presence of the man standing by his bed, grinning down at him.

“Morning princess,” Bucky singsonged.

“Shut up,” Matt hissed.

“So, you don’t want this aspirin?” Bucky asked holding up a glass of water and rattling a sheet of pills.

“Fine, leave the pills, then shut up and leave.”

“Nope,” Bucky replied, popping the ‘p’. But he did hand over the aspirin and made sure Matt didn’t choke on the water, so Matt figured he couldn’t be all bad.

“Oh, no, I have work today,” Matt realised.

“Yeah, I saw that in your calendar.”

“You went though my phone?” Matt frowned.

“Pal, I went through everything. Phone, bathroom, kitchen. I even peeked under your bed. You need to dust under there, by the way.”

“I’ll get right on it.”

“Come on, I even left you some hot water,” Bucky said, yanking the covers off of the bed. Matt curled into himself as the cold air hit his skin. “If you shower and get dressed, I’ll buy you coffee and a plate of grease from the diner down the block,” Bucky added.

Matt considered flipping him off and telling him to just fuck off - never mind the implications of telling the world’s greatest assassin to fuck off - but then his stomach rumbled, and the thought of a grease laden breakfast sounded wonderful, so he rolled out of bed, his knees wobbling for a few minutes as they considered whether or not to hold his weight and staggered towards the bathroom. When he returned, washed and dressed, he decided to give up on attempting his tie, and stuffed it into his pocket. 

Only for Bucky to steal it, flicking Matt’s collar and sliding the tie round his neck, deft fingers working the silk into a perfect knot and smoothing it down.

“I should probably be nervous with your hands so close to my neck, shouldn’t I?” Matt realised.

“Probably,” Bucky murmured.

“You’re lucky I’m too hungover to care,” Matt replied, reaching for his cane.

Bucky smiled.

X

Out on the street, Matt tucked his hand into Bucky’s elbow ostensibly as they dodged the morning commuters to reach the aforementioned diner. Bucky watched in fascination as Matt all but inhaled a full English and two mugs of coffee, shaking his head as he ate his own bagel. 

“So,” Matt began, once he received his third coffee. “The Winter Soldier, huh?”

“Formerly,” Bucky nodded.

“Why are you in New York?”

“I have a mission,” Bucky explained. “You ever heard of a cosmic cube?”

“What’s that?”

“You know the tesseract?”

“That’s what Captain America was looking for in the forties, right?”

“Yeah,” Bucky grimaced. “That Loki guy used it a couple of years ago, the invasion of New York?”

“I remember it. So you’re looking for that?”

“No, Loki got away with that one after the battle,” Bucky shook his head. “But it’s not the only cosmic cube out there. I’m looking for another one. One that we don’t know what it can do. Ever heard of Ulysses Klaue?”

Matt shook his head.

“He’s an arms dealer, not a nice guy. Anyway, he stole from some friends of mine a few years ago, so they’ve been keeping a close eye on him since then. When they heard about Klaue selling a cosmic cube, they tried to get there in time to get the cube. Only we were too late. All we know is that it was sold to a buyer in New York. Which is why I’m here.”

“To find the buyer and the cube,” Matt finished. 

“Exactly.”

“What does the cube do?”

“They control matter and energy. They’re hard to control, but used right, they can alter all reality, granting anything the user desires.”

“Delightful. Are you working with the Avengers?”

“Uh, no. Steve doesn’t know I’m back in the city,” Bucky admitted.

“Steve? As in Rogers?”

“Yeah. I’m Bucky Barnes.”

“Captain America’s best friend?”

“So they tell me,” he shrugged. 

“Huh,” Matt sipped his coffee. “Well, you’re welcome to keep using my couch if you need somewhere to crash.”

“Seriously?” Bucky blinked.

“Yeah. Why not?”

“Because I’m the Winter Soldier?”

“Yeah, and you saved my ass, carried me home, and cleaned me up before pouring my drunk ass into bed,” Matt replied. “If you were going to do anything, that would’ve been the perfect time, cause I couldn’t fight back. I trust you.”

Bucky stared at him.

It struck Matt then that it was probably a long time since anyone had said that they trusted Bucky, what with the whole Hydra brainwashing thing. Nevertheless, he meant every word. 

“Thank you,” Bucky murmured eventually. He cleared his throat. “So what was up last night? I mean, why the party for one with the vodka bottle?”

“Wilson Fisk,” Matt sighed.

“Who?” Bucky frowned.

“Wilson Fisk was released from prison yesterday.”

“Who’s this Fisk guy?”

“He’s a murderer, a crime lord, the biggest scum of the earth to walk Hell’s Kitchen,” Matt explained. “I did everything I could to make sure he got caught, and then they just… let him go.”

“Welcome to America,” Bucky smiled grimly, raising his coffee in a silent toast.

“Yeah. I started to wonder what the point of this was. I mean, I go after him as a lawyer, I go after him as a vigilante, either way, he’s out and free and the people he killed, good people, are still dead.”

“Sucks,” Bucky murmured. 

“Alright, I gotta get to work,” Matt groaned, heaving himself up. “I work at-“

“I know,” Bucky interrupted. “I snooped, remember?”

“Oh yeah. See you later?”

“Sure,” Bucky nodded. Then, as Matt walked away, he called, “Chinese or Thai food?”

Matt paused.

“Thai,” he replied.

Bucky grinned. 

“See you Murdock.”

X

“What happened to you?” Foggy exclaimed as Matt let himself into the office. Matt winced.

“Can you lower the volume a little?” he pleaded. “And a bottle of vodka happened to me.”

“Did the bottle of vodka jump up and punch you, too?”

“No, that was the assholes who tried to jump this kid in an alley,” Matt groaned, easing himself into a chair. “Please tell me we don’t have any appointments for an hour?”

“No luck, we’re interviewing for a new office assistant,” Foggy replied. “You know, since Karen’s…”

“Yeah,” Matt sighed. “Alright, give me ten minutes and two more mugs of coffee, and I should be vaguely human.”

“Fine. Wait, two more? How many have you _had_?”

X

A quick search online told Bucky that Wilson Fisk lived in the penthouse of the Presidential Hotel. And since Shuri told him that the scanner would work better on higher ground, Bucky figured that he might as well scope out the city from the building across from the Presidential Hotel, take a look at this Fisk character, and kill two birds with one stone. 

Peering through the sniper scope, Bucky spotted a couple of different suited and booted men, until he found the man he recognised from the pictures online. Tall, broad shoulders, and bald, Fisk was one of those people who exuded quiet power. Bucky observed him for about fifteen minutes, watching as Fisk directed the other men carrying paintings and canvases, telling them where to hang them. 

Then Bucky sat back, pulling the scanner from his pocket and fired it up. Seven seconds later, it began beeping furiously at him.

_High proximity._

Bucky stared at the scanner. 

_“He’s a murderer, a crime lord, the biggest scum of the earth to walk Hell’s Kitchen.”_

He turned the scanner towards the Presidential Hotel and it went wild.

“Son of a bitch.”

X

“Hey, I’m going to meet Karen for falafel. You coming?” Foggy called, sticking his head into Matt’s office.

“Uh, no. I’ll pass,” Matt replied.

“Things still weird between you two?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Next time?”

Matt smiled.

“Next time,” he promised.

Once Foggy left, Matt went down to the deli on the corner to buy a sandwich, then returned to his office. He’d just finished calling May Parker to offer her the job as office assistant, when he heard the door open. Before he could tense or worry, he recognised the tinge of an unidentified metal mixed with gold, the undercurrent of the finest tuned machinery, and the smell of copper and bergamot.

“Hey Bucky,” he called.

“Hey,” Bucky nodded, letting himself into the office, closing the door again behind him. “How’s the hangover?”

“I’ve had seven cups of coffee this morning,” Matt smiled. “I feel almost human again.” 

“Well, that’s not bad,” Bucky replied. “Being almost human. The coffee thing is terrifying.”

“What are you doing here?” Matt asked, suddenly realising that there was no reason as such for Bucky to be there. Also, it felt weirdly normal to have Bucky sitting opposite him. 

“I, uh, thought I’d check out this Fisk fella,” Bucky explained, leaning back in his chair. “And, you know, the scanner thing I got to track down the cube? It works better from a height.” 

“What? What is it?”

Bucky exhaled slowly.

“I think Fisk has the cube.”

Matt recalled what Bucky told him, about the cosmic cubes being used to alter reality. Then he pictured Fisk with that power, the power to grant his greatest wishes, and felt a cold foreboding, deep in his bones. He shuddered. 

“How do we prove it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I mentioned over on Tumblr earlier in the week, real life and family have decided to kick my arse right now, which means my motivation has jumped out of the window screaming. The plan was to update this twice weekly, and I have a couple of chapters already written, but depending on what happens next, updates may slow down. Unfortunately, I have no idea if or when this family crap is going to be resolved, but I should have some idea after today which way things are going to go. If it doesn't go well, it's going to hurt. A lot. And that might affect my writing a lot. Or it might make me write more. Who knows? I really don't want to find out.
> 
> You're still welcome to send messages or asks, and I will still reply to comments as fast as I can. It's just getting any actual work done right now is hard.
> 
> Find me rambling on tumblr here: [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com)  
> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky does recon, and Foggy helps Matt dig for the truth.

One of the reasons why T’Challa asked Bucky to take this mission in the first place was because of his ability to get into places that T’Challa or Nakia couldn’t. Not because he was more skilled than them in espionage - T’Challa, yes, but Bucky was under no illusions that Nakia was the best spy he’d ever met, equal only to Natasha - but for one very simple reason.

He was white, and they were black.

And the truth was, he was less likely to raise suspicions if he was caught somewhere he shouldn’t be, due to the simple fact of his skin colour. 

Bucky kind of hated the world sometimes.

He was the most wanted assassin in the world, and he just walked straight in the front door of the Presidential Hotel without a glance.

They might not have been watching him, but Bucky was watching them. The security guards under the guise of doormen, both packing way more heat than was necessary at a hotel. The undercover cops sitting on the sofas in the corner of the reception, ostensibly reading through a guide book on New York. Wandering across the lobby, Bucky pulled out his cell phone and pretended to make a call as he climbed the stairs to the first floor.

As he approached the elevators, and the Special Forces trained hotel employee waiting there, Bucky removed the phone from his ear, shaking his head and glaring at the screen.

“Dumbass,” he muttered. “Hey,” he called to the employee. “Can you let me up to the fifth floor? My idiot best friend isn’t picking up and he has the room key.”

“I’m sorry sir, I need your key before I cal let you up.”

“Come on man, please?” Bucky whined. “I just wanna grab my wallet. Left it on the bed. I’ll be two minutes. Steve’s in there, he’l let me in.”

“I’m sorry sir, it’s hotel policy. Talk to reception.”

“Yeah, sure,” Bucky sighed.

The middle elevator dinged, the doors sliding open. As he turned back towards the stairs, Bucky took a good look inside; just as he suspected, there was another guard in the elevator, who took patrons’ cards and swiped them before allowing them to press the correct floor. 

Bucky jogged down the stairs, and walked out of the hotel.

He had to see a man about some Thai food.

X

“So what did you find out?” Matt asked, sitting across from Bucky at the table in his apartment, cartons of Thai food spread out between them.

“The security at the hotel is crazy,” Bucky replied. “And a lot of the staff are military. Couple of undercover cops in the lobby.”

“Makes sense, I guess,” Matt shrugged. “That they’d have Fisk under observation.”

“Yeah. Thing is, I don’t think they were watching Fisk. I think they were watching _for_ Fisk.” 

“He always did like having half of the NYPD in his pocket,” Matt muttered, shovelling a forkful of fried rice into his mouth.

“So what’s the deal with you and Fisk? How’d you get involved with this guy?”

“First it was the Russians,” Matt explained.

“The Russians?” Bucky looked up sharply.

“Yeah. Then the Chinese. And the Yakuza. It always came back to Fisk. All of it.”

“Yeah, but this is personal,” Bucky said, stealing the last fish cake. “Why?”

Matt smiled, despite the subject. Bucky could read him, better than anyone he’d ever met before. And Matt had a suspicion that it wasn’t just the years as an assassin. Maybe, maybe it was just Bucky. 

“There was a woman,” he explained. “Elena Cardenas. She lived in an apartment building that belonged to a slum lord name Armand Tully. Fisk wanted to buy the building, but Mrs Cardenas didn’t want to go. She hired Foggy and me to represent her. We thought we had a case. We thought we could win. So Fisk killed her. And lots of others. I swore I’d make him pay. And instead he’s living in a penthouse apartment, a free man, and he can pick up right where he left off.”

He didn’t ever realise he was clenching his fork so hard, until Buck’s hand covered his, gently loosening his fingers one by one until the fork fell onto the table. Then, to Matt’s surprise, Bucky slid his palm into his hand and held it.

“So, we’re going to get this son of a bitch then,” Bucky said. And it wasn’t a question, but a fact. A fact. That Bucky would help Matt to do whatever it took to make sure that Fisk paid for his crimes. 

Matt swallowed.

Slowly he squeezed Bucky’s hand.

X

“What are you up to?” Foggy asked as he handed over a mug of coffee.

“Thanks,” Matt said. “Just, doing some digging.”

“Into what?”

“The Presidential Hotel.”

Foggy didn’t need to ask why Matt had a sudden interest in real estate, nor did he say anything, for which Matt was grateful - even if he did look disapproving. But Matt was blind and, although he knew what Foggy’s facial muscles were doing, he couldn’t actually see it, so he was willing to let it slide.

“Anything in particular?” he asked instead. 

“Yeah. Why the Presidential? Unless there’s a reason. I’m wondering… Fisk has a history of buying up properties in the city. Why not this one?”

“That is a very good point,” Foggy agreed. “Alright, I’m probably going to regret this, but deal me in. What do you need?”

“You really want to help?”

“No, not really. But I’m not going to let you get into this alone. Not again. So where do we start?”

Matt smiled, a rush of warmth filling him. He was so grateful to have Foggy’s friendship again, when he could’ve so easily let it just slip away, lost in his own mind and his own stubbornness. At least Foggy was willing to put his discomfort about Daredevil to one side, just as long as Matt didn’t shut him out again. Until he met Bucky, Matt wasn’t sure he could do that. 

Now, he wasn’t sure how he’d managed for so long otherwise.

“We start by finding the owner of the Presidential Hotel,” he replied. “And then we find their connection to Fisk.”

“Yeah. Cause it’s always that easy,” Foggy grinned.

“Well, who wants an easy life?” Matt teased. 

“Me. Every single goddamn day. Now hand me the file, Murdock.”

They worked in silence, only talking when they found something to direct the other, until, sometime after lunch, Foggy sat up so quickly he almost fell off of his chair and exclaimed, “Holy shit!”

“You found something?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so,” Foggy nodded. “Alright, so, the Presidential belonged to Rostam Kazemi. Until about six months ago, when it was bought by an offshore company. And then another. And another. Until finally, it was bought by Red Lion National Bank. It’s an offshore bank, run by a Felix Manning.”

“So?”

“So, there was something familiar about the name Red Lion. I knew I’d heard it somewhere before,” he continued. “I started looking through Karen’s old research, and I found it. Last year, she traced some of Fisk’s accounts to-“

“-Red Lion National Bank,” Matt finished.

“Yeah. You were right. Fisk owns the hotel.”

X

“Holy shit, listen to this,” Bucky called, his voice floating through the bathroom door where Matt was taking a shower. “ _Wilson Fisk announces marriage. Wilson Fisk, this week released from prison after the charges of racketeering were overturned, announced this morning that he is to celebrate his engagement to long-time girlfriend, Vanessa Marianna, at the Presidential Hotel this Friday_ ,” Bucky read. “Can you believe it?”

“No,” Matt replied.

He shut off the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist without bothering to dry off and opened the bathroom door.

“Least now we know why Fisk has so much security,” Bucky shrugged, his eyes flickering over Matt’s bare torso.

“Could we get in? During the party?” Matt wondered.

“You can’t. He knows you,” Bucky replied. “I on the other hand…”

“If you get up to the penthouse, you can let me in.”

“Exactly. If the cube’s there, we’ll find it.”

Matt nodded, his mind already whirring with plans and possibilities, until Bucky’s hand patted his chest.

“Alright. Go put a shirt on before you give the people on the subway an eyeful. I’ll make coffee,” he called, already disappearing towards the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me rambling on tumblr here: [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com)  
> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt hates waiting. Bucky helps.

“The waiting is killing me,” Matt muttered, throwing himself back onto the sofa.

At the other end of the sofa, Bucky raised one eyebrow, without looking up from his phone.

“Really. I never would’ve guessed,” he deadpanned.

“Sorry.”

Bucky tossed his phone aside, eyeing Matt critically. A sniper’s gaze. He should probably feel uncomfortable, to be under that kind of scrutiny, but Matt trusted Bucky. Already, even after four days, he trusted Bucky maybe more than he’d ever trusted anybody.

He trusted Foggy of course, but that was different. He trusted Foggy with friendship and in the courtroom. With Bucky, Matt trusted him with his life. He trusted Bucky to have his back, in whatever fight might be coming next. And maybe it was crazy to trust the world’s most wanted assassin like that, but he didn’t care. 

The world was going to hell, and the only thing that stopped him from going crazy was Bucky. 

“Let’s go out,” Bucky suggested. “Not like the last time you went out,” he added at Matt’s look of _are you crazy?_ “I mean, go out, have a drink - one drink, maybe two - eat some food, play some pool. Do whatever the cool kids do these days.”

“You’re talking to the wrong person,” Matt informed him. “I'm a huge dork.”

“Yeah, me too. My idea of fun was a science fair,” Bucky shrugged. “Come on. It’ll get you outta your head.”

“Sure, why not?” Matt shrugged. 

He doubted he would actually be able to forget about Fisk long enough to enjoy himself, to get out of his head as Bucky put it, but to Matt’s surprise, and hour later he was standing by a pool table in Josie’s, a beer in one hand and a pool cue in the other, laughing as Bucky missed a shot.

“Shut up,” Bucky muttered.

“The greatest assassin in the world, a trained sniper, just missed a a pool ball,” Matt grinned. “I don’t think I can let that go.”

“Alright, alright, you do better,” Bucky snapped with a grin, snatching up his own beer.

Stepping up to the table, Matt lined up the shot, and sent two balls sailing perfectly into the pockets, only missing the third by an inch. He turned back to Bucky with a smug grin, spreading his arms.

“You're getting your ass kicked by a blind man,” he pointed out.

“You think you’re so good.”

“No, I know I’m so good,” Matt corrected, leaning back against the pool table.

“Confident,” Bucky grinned, stepping forward. “I thought pride was a sin?”

“I’ll say a hail Mary later,” Matt grinned.

Bucky moved closer, until he was right in Matt’s personal space, but Matt couldn’t bring himself to care. Actually, that wasn’t quite true. He cared, he just didn’t object. Because being this close to Bucky sent thrills running over his skin, and conjured heat in his belly. They were only a hair’s width apart, purposely not touching until the last possible moment.

Then just before their lips could touch, Matt whispers, “My friends just walked in.”

“Timing,” Bucky murmured.

“Yeah.”

Bucky stepped back, and Matt tried not to mourn the loss of his closeness, the warmth that radiated from him thanks to the serum. He could hear Bucky’s throat working as he gulped down the last of his beer, hear the increased heart beat in his chest. And that was kind of awesome. Bucky could keep his heart rate calm during a worst of fights, but thirty seconds of close proximity with Matt Murdock sent all of his control out of the window? 

Oh yeah, Matt was smug.

“Matt? Hey,” Foggy called, easing his way through the throng of bodies that filled Josie’s.

“Hey Foggy,” Matt greeted, receiving the clap on the shoulder with a smile. “Karen.”

“Hi Matt,” Karen replied, and yeah, it was still awkward between them.

“Uh, this is Bucky,” Matt explained. “Bucky, this is Foggy Nelson and Karen Page.”

“Hi,” Bucky waved. “It’s my round,” he added, holding up his empty beer bottle. “Anybody want anything?”

“Sure. Beer?” Foggy replied.

“Yeah. Beer, thanks,” Karen agreed.

“On it,” Bucky nodded.

“You sure?” Matt frowned. 

“Pal, I got an expenses account,” Bucky grinned. “I’m sure.”

“So that’s why you sprung for the good Thai place,” Matt grinned.

“Well, yeah. I’m not going to the place with the rats when I’m not paying for it,” Bucky retorted. “Be right back.”

“I have to go to the ladies,” Karen excused herself.

“So, Bucky?” Foggy asked, once they were alone.

“Yeah. He’s a… friend,” Matt replied.

“A… _friend_?” Foggy smirked.

“For now,” Matt grinned, thinking back to the almost-kiss, wondering what could’ve happened if Foggy and Karen had turned up a few minutes later. It was probably for the best. Making out with the world’s deadliest assassin in front of your ex-girlfriend was probably considered poor taste. 

“Alright. Well, he seems nice. In a kind of terrifying, kind of hot way. Does that make sense?”

“That pretty much sums him up, yeah.”

“What are we talking about?” Bucky asked as he rejoined them, as if he couldn’t hear every word they said. 

“Captain America,” Matt replied, trying to school his features into the innocent expression he used to use to fool those most naive or news nuns in the orphanage.

Bucky shook his head, his eyes narrowing a little, and Matt barely managed to contain his grin at the fact that Bucky couldn’t say a thing.

“Here you go,” Bucky said to Karen as she rejoined them, passing over her beer.

“Thanks,” she nodded.

“Anyone want to take over?” Matt asked, holding up his pool cue. “Help Bucky regain some pride after losing to a blind man?”

“I did not lose, you son of a bitch,” Bucky snapped. “You cheat.”

“Me?” Matt replied innocently. “A good Catholic boy? Cheating? I don’t think so.”

Foggy and Karen snorted into their drinks.

“Alright,” Bucky nodded. “Just you wait until we play Monopoly. My best friend was a little shit, and you had to be ruthless if you wanted to survive.”

He was, Matt realised, talking about Captain America. He didn’t know what he was more surprised by: the fact Bucky was willingly talking about Steve, or that Captain America apparently owned everyone at Monopoly.

“Didn’t we end up in a game of strip Monopoly one time in college?” Foggy frowned,

“Oh, God, I forgot about that,” Matt laughed.

“I wish I could forget about that.”

“Come on, that’s the first time Marci saw you naked,” Matt reminded him.

“True.”

“Okay, now I’m glad I never went to college,” Bucky said.

“So, uh, what did you do instead of college, Bucky?” Karen asked.

“I joined the army,” Bucky replied. “Until I lost my arm.”

He held up his left arm, showing off the metal hand.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Nah, don’t be,” Bucky shook his head. “It was never right.”

Matt nearly spat out his beer. He looked incredulously towards Bucky. 

“You did not just make that pun,” he declared.

“What? I thought that was pretty good,” Bucky grinned.

The Winter Soldier made bad puns about losing his arm? What the hell?

“You complete dork,” Matt shook his head.

“I told you about the science fairs,” Bucky retorted.

“How did you two meet?” Foggy blurted out.

“I stopped him from getting his drunk ass kicked in an alley,” Bucky explained.

“I had it under control,” Matt insisted.

“Cupcake, you didn’t have anything under control,” Bucky retorted. “Including your limbs.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Oh my God…” Foggy gaped. “I wanna look away, but I can’t.”

“Sorry,” Matt smiled. “Karen, how is life at the Bulletin?”

“It’s good,” Karen nodded. As she began telling them about working for Ellison, and her co-workers, and the stories she was working on, and being assigned to Ben’s old office, throughout it all, Matt remained aware of Bucky’s eyes on him. Just the smallest of glances, he would make sure to look at Karen or Foggy if they were talking, but he always came back to Matt. Matt shifted, leaning back against the table next to Bucky, until their fingers overlapped, hidden from view by their backs. He heard Bucky’s pulse pick up, heard him swallow, and Matt had never felt more powerful.

Or luckier.

X

After finally saying their good nights to Foggy and Karen, Matt and Bucky walked back to Matt’s apartment in silence, Matt’s hand tucked into Bucky’s elbow for appearances sake until they reached his building. The silence between them felt thick, pregnant with expectation, waiting, the deep breath before the plunge. As they walked upstairs, side by side, their knuckles brushed, and Matt could hear Bucky’s lips twitching.

He wasn’t sure whose heart was beating loudest.

At his door, Matt stepped forward, folding his cane and pulling his key from his pocket. As he slipped the key into the lock, Bucky stepped forward, so close that his chest brushed Matt’s back with every breath he took. Matt didn’t realise he’d stopped until Bucky’s shoulder nudged his own. He turned the key and let them in. Tossing his cane aside he locked the door behind them, then turned and walked down the hall into the apartment, where Bucky was waiting.

Matt removed his glasses, slipping them into his jacket pocket, then his jacket, reaching out vaguely in the direction of the hooks on the wall, but remaining entirely indifferent when the jacket missed and fell straight to the floor. 

Bucky was watching him. Every move catalogued with the sniper’s careful gaze, and Matt felt wanted. Not desired, he knew what that was like, knew he was an attractive man from the reactions of others. He’d been desired, felt their lust for his body. But this, with Bucky, this was different. It was want. Bucky wanted _him_. Matt Murdock. The person inside the body.

That was something new.

Matt stopped in front of Bucky. He could feel his pulse racing, his breath coming in quick, short gaps, and he shivered.

Slowly, so slowly, he reached out one hand. He placed it on Bucky’s forearm, feeling the skin prickle beneath his fingers. Then ran them upwards, slowly, still so slowly, onto the rolled up arm of his t-shirt, over corded muscle and round his shoulder, up until the found flesh again at his collar. Then his hand slid to the back of Bucky’s neck and he kissed him.

Bucky’s hands snapped to Matt’s hips, hauling him close.

Kissing Bucky was unlike kissing anyone Matt had ever been with before. 

With Elektra it was hard and furious, fighting for dominance.

With Claire it was longing and regret.

With Karen it was sweet and hopeful.

With Bucky it was all of that, and none of it. 

“Matt,” Bucky groaned, his fist clenching in Matt’s shirt.

“I know,” Matt panted. “I know.”

Bucky’s hands were trembling, he realised, as they worked the buttons of Matt’s shirt free. That was a fabulous idea, Matt decided, and slid his hands under Bucky’s t-shirt before tugging it upwards and off over his head. 

“Shit. _Shit_ ,” Bucky gasped. 

“Bedroom?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s… That’s good.”

They tumbled backwards towards the bedroom, shoving the door out of the way to fall onto the bed in a tangle of limbs. Matt flipped them, so Bucky was below him, running his hands over Bucky’s torso. He leaned down, kissing his way over Bucky’s collarbone then moving down, learning very curve and ridge of his body. 

“Beautiful,” he murmured. “Bucky, you’re beautiful.”

“Not so, ah, not so bad yourself, cupcake,” Bucky replied, his hips moving of their own accord. 

Matt chuckled, ducking his head again to suck a bruise onto Bucky’s neck. He could hear the blood blossoming below the surface of his skin, and felt a rush of pride that only intensified when Bucky’s breath started coming in short, sharp gulps. 

“Get up here,” Bucky whined. “Matt, need, get up here. Please.”

Matt chuckled again, kissing his way upwards, slowly, so slowly, until Bucky growled and yanked him up, rolling them across the bed and coming to a stop on top.

“Jerk,” Bucky muttered, before kissing him again. “What d’you want?”

“Anything,” Matt replied. “Anything you want to do. What do you want?”

“What, fuck, Matt, I… I just, I just want you. Anything. Long as it’s you.”

“Bucky,” Matt groaned. 

His fingers scrabbled at the button of his trousers; Bucky batted them away, undoing both of their trousers at once. They separated just long enough to push off their pants and their boxers, and then they were naked. Matt hauled Bucky back on top of him. After a few minutes rutting together like that, Matt used all his weight to throw Bucky onto his back and straddled his waist.

“Let me,” he asked. “Just… let me. Please?”

“Yeah,” Bucky nodded. “God, yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me rambling on tumblr here: [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com)  
> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Matt infiltrate the Presidential Hotel.

Bucky shifted as he woke, a low whine in his throat, and burrowed further into the body at his side. _Matt_ , his mind supplied, and Bucky smiled. He placed soft kisses against the column of Matt’s neck, breathing in the smell of cologne and sweat and ink.

Matt’s head lolled to the side until his face was buried in Bucky’s hair. From the change in his breathing, Bucky knew he was awake.

“Hey,” Matt mumbled, his voice thick with sleep.

It was the best sound in the world, Bucky decided.

“Morning,” he whispered. 

“Big day.”

“Yeah. We’ll get him.”

“You sound pretty confident.”

“Well, yeah. I’ll be with you,” Bucky shrugged.

He felt Matt freeze beneath his hand. He knew Matt wasn’t exactly big on the whole trusting other people thing, and until now, Bucky probably would’ve been right up there with him, or perhaps right up there _without_ him would be more appropriate. But now, knowing Matt, being with Matt, suddenly Bucky was unsure if he ever wanted to be alone again. 

“You mean that,” Matt replied, and the wonder in his voice was a little heartbreaking.

“Course I do.”

Matt huffed.

“Sometimes… Sometimes I can’t believe you’re real,” he murmured.

“I’m real,” Bucky smiled, kissing the junction between Matt’s neck and shoulder. “I’m here.”

“We should get up.”

“Nah,” Bucky shook his head. “We got time.”

X

Bucky was aware that he had many, many flaws. Former career as a brainwashed assassin notwithstanding. But until now, he was unaware that one of his flaws was apparently getting turned on while watching Matt taking someone down. 

He swallowed.

Fuck, Matt was beautiful. 

He was always beautiful, Bucky’d noticed that from the first night he rescued him in that alley, but there was just something about the way he moved when he fought that was breathtaking. Okay, yeah, he was unnecessarily acrobatic - seriously, no one needs to somersault that much while fighting, Matthew - but his movements flowed, and the energy in him was all but visible.

Beautiful.

Even like this, when it wasn’t a fight, but simply taking down the party guest who looked most like Bucky and stealing his invitation.

“Here,” Matt said, holding out the gold-embossed envelope.

“Not bad, cupcake,” Bucky smirked.

“Your tie is crooked,” Matt told him, stepping forward and adjusting the offending article of clothing. 

“Thanks,” Bucky murmured.

Matt’s hands lingered at his lapels, and Bucky knew he was nervous. He knew that Fisk had taken so much from Matt, and now, with everything so new between them, that Matt felt he had everything to lose. 

“See you upstairs,” he promised.

Matt nodded.

“How’s the sling?”

“It’s fine,” Bucky assured him. He kissed him once; firm, quick, promising to come back. “See you soon,” he winked.

Despite his words, walking away from Matt was harder than he thought it would be. If it wasn’t for the fact that the city, maybe even the world, depended on getting the cosmic cube away from Fisk, Bucky was beginning to doubt his ability to ever leave Matt again. He stepped into the entrance of the Presidential Hotel, noting all the extra security as he ascended the stairs. At the elevators, he handed over his invite and pressed his metal hand to the fingerprint scanner, holding back a smirk when it confirmed his false identity. 

The elevator took him upstairs to the ballroom. Adjusting his tie and the sling one last time, he stepped out of the elevator and into the waiting crowd. He ducked his way through the crowd, using all of his training to make himself as unobtrusive as possible. The last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself. In one corner of the room, a jazz quartet crooned, a gentle undertone to the thrum of conversation. Bucky parked himself at the bar, ordering a vodka for appearances sake, and waited for the arrival of the happy couple. 

He didn’t have to wait long.

The double doors at the end of the ballroom opened. Bucky raised his chin to catch his first glimpse of Wilson Fisk that didn't come through a sniper scope.

Fisk was a tall man, bald and broad shouldered, while Vanessa Marianna was elegant and dark. There was a cruelty in him, Bucky could see, even without the knowledge of what he’d done to Matt and others. But it was her that he focused on. To the untrained eye, Vanessa Marianna was perfectly charming, perfectly innocent.

Bucky’s eyes were not untrained.

He could see what the world could not: the glint in her eye, the jut of her chin, the cunning and conniving woman beneath the beautiful exterior. Fisk was powerful, but she was _dangerous_. 

So it made perfect sense to find his way to her side.

“Ms Marianna,” he greeted.

“I’m sorry, have we met?” Vanessa smiled.

“No, I’m a business parter of your fiancé,” Bucky lied. “James.” He stuck out his left hand. Sorry," he chuckled, nodding to the sling on his right arm.

“A pleasure to meet you, James,” Vanessa shook his hand.

“Congratulations. You two make a wonderful couple. I wondered, if I may have the honour of a dance?”

“Of course,” she nodded.

“What happened?” Vanessa asked, nodding to the sling as they began to move on the dance floor. 

Bucky chuckled, ducking his head in embarrassment. 

“My, uh, my boyfriend’s blind,” he explained. “And I’m always telling him off for leaving things lying about on the floor, telling him that he’ll break his neck one of these days. And what happens? I got and trip over my own shoelace and break my arm.”

“Oh dear.”

“Yeah, not my finest moment,” Bucky admitted. “He’s never going to let me live it down.”

“You love him?” Vanessa asked.

“Yeah,” Bucky realised. “Yeah, I do.”

“Are you planning getting married?”

“Not yet. But, uh, maybe someday.”

“I wish you all the luck in the world. When you find the right person, nothing compares to it.”

“I’m starting to get that. I should stop monopolising your time,” Bucky said, stepping back. “Thank you for the dance, Ms Marianna. And congratulations again.”

“Thank you,” Vanessa smiled.

Bucky slipped through the crowd, once he was certain that he was no longer being watched, towards the double doors that Fisk and Vanessa entered through, where he found the private elevator that would take him straight to the penthouse. Normally, he would be unable to access the elevator, since his handprint was not authorised to call the elevator.

However, Vanessa Marianna’s handprint was.

And thanks to Shuri, Bucky’s metal arm had the rather neat trick of scanning a persons finger and handprints, storing them, and temporarily imprinting them on its palm for situations just like this. It was how he’d been admitted to the party in the first place, thanks to the unconscious man in the parking garage. 

The scanner beeped an affirmative; moments later, the elevator doors slid open.

Bucky stepped inside, pressed the button, and the doors closed behind him. 

X

Knowing that Bucky was in the same room as Wilson Fisk and there was nothing he could do about it was one of the most painful realisations of Matt’s life. He wanted to pick Bucky up and just run, get him as far away from Fisk as possible, hide him away, protect him. Which was insane, because Bucky was the Winter Soldier, the deadliest assassin in the world, former sidekick to Captain America. If anything, Bucky was the best person to go up against Fisk.

Didn’t mean Matt had to like it though. 

He made his way up the fire escape as quickly as possible, until he was standing on the penthouse balcony, waiting for Bucky to arrive and let him in. 

Matt heard the elevator long before it reached the top floor, a familiar heartbeat encased safely inside. He could relax. Bucky was fine.

“Hey,” Bucky murmured, when he opened the door.

“Hey yourself,” Matt replied.

“Miss me?” Bucky smirked.

“Yes,” Matt replied with honesty that surprised them both.

“Alright, let’s find this thing,” Bucky muttered. “Which way, sniffer dog?”

“You’re not funny,” Matt informed him. But with Bucky by his side, he could focus once more on, well, anything that wasn’t Bucky. It took only seconds for his focus to hone in o the energy thrumming in one of the bedrooms upstairs. “Up there,” he nodded.

Bucky took the lead, taking the stairs two and a time. Matt frowned. The energy source could only be the cube, because it was unlike anything else he’d ever experienced, but it wasn’t exactly… cube shaped. Bucky reached out for the door handle, there was a burst of energy, and then the energy source… was a cube.

_Holy shit…_

“Bucky, wait!” Matt called, right before Bucky could touch the cube.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me rambling on tumblr here: [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com)  
> 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Bucky make a discovery about the cube.

Bucky knelt to pick up the cube, which was just sitting in the middle of the room, when Matt’s voice rang out.

“Bucky, wait!”

He froze. He glanced over his shoulder, but Matt merely grabbed his shoulder and hauled him back.

“What?” Bucky whispered.

“Trust me,” Matt replied. “Please?”

“I do.”

Matt raised his head sharply, then visibly forced himself to turn his attention back to the cube. Bucky frowned when Matt crouched down beside the cube, but made no move to touch it. His eyebrows shot upwards however when Matt began to speak to it.

“Hi,” Matt murmured. “It’s okay. I know you’re scared. I know you’ve been surrounded by a lot of bad people. But we won’t hurt you. We want to get you out of here. Get you somewhere safe. I promise.”

Bucky found himself leaning forward curiously, which meant that he jumped backwards when the cube transformed into, what the hell, a _child_.

“What the hell?” he muttered.

“Hi,” Matt continued. “You haven’t shown anyone else this form, have you?”

The girl shook her head, her dark hair brushing her shoulders.

“Then we’re honoured,” Matt smiled. “Thank you. I’m Matt, that’s Bucky. And we’re going to protect you. I promise.”

“Yeah. What he said,” Bucky nodded.

“What’s your name, honey?” Matt asked.

“Kobik,” came the whispered reply, barely audible to anyone that wasn’t Bucky or Matt with their enhanced hearing. 

“D’you… d’you wanna come with us?” Bucky asked. “Somewhere safe? Yeah?”

“Okay,” Kobik nodded.

Bucky grinned. She unfolded herself slowly, before reaching her hands up towards Bucky. He lifted her up, balancing her on his hip, and brushed her hair back from her face. She looked, what? Maybe three or four? How was he supposed to know? The last time he was around children was in 1942, when he had sisters and cousins. Children weren’t exactly something Hydra trained him in.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” he murmured.

They descended the stairs once more, stepping out onto the balcony where Bucky handed Kobik over to Matt. She whined in the back of her throat, trying to hang on to Bucky.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he assured her. “You’re gonna go with Matt, and I’ll meet you soon. Okay? I promise.”

Kobik searched his face. Bucky felt a gentle prod at his mind. Ordinarily, he would’ve run in fear, but he realised it was simply Kobik, and allowed her in, a cool touch against his thoughts. 

She nodded, allowing him to hand her over to Matt.

“Be careful,” Matt told him.

Bucky nodded.

“See you soon,” he promised, leaning in to kiss Matt quickly.

Once Matt, with Kobik securely hanging on to his neck, had disappeared up onto the roof, Bucky locked the balcony door, called the elevator, and rode back down to the ballroom. He strolled through the crowd, trying to look as natural as he could on his way towards the exit, when Vanessa caught his eye. For a moment they just looked at each other. 

Then someone blocked their line of sight, and when they moved, Bucky was gone.

X

Crossing the rooftops with Kobik in his arms was possibly the most terrifying thing Matt had ever done. While part of him knew that she was a cosmic cube, and therefore not as breakable as any human child, another part of him heard her heartbeat and felt her soft skin and determined that she was fragile and in need of protection. 

They made it to his building without incident, entering through the rooftop door. Matt carried her downstairs and sat her carefully on the sofa before pulling off his mask. Kobik glanced around, her heartbeat picking up in concern.

“Bucky won’t be long,” Matt assured her. He crouched down, picking up her hands in his own and squeezing them reassuringly. “You’re safe here. You hungry? Thirsty?”

Did cosmic cube kids even get hungry or thirsty?

Kobik shook her head. She shuffled forward, removing one of her hands to press it against his cheek. Matt smiled, then turned and pressed a kiss against her palm. 

Kobik giggled.

He could hear Bucky’s heartbeat climbing the stairs, the familiar tang of the unfamiliar metal in his arm colouring the air the closer he came. Bucky let himself in to the apartment - and Matt wasn’t going to question where Bucky’s key came from, mostly because he didn’t care - and tossed the sling aside.

“Hey pipsqueak,” he grinned at Kobik, his hand sliding into Matt’s hair as he leaned into his side.

“Hi,” Kobik smiled.

They sat on the edge of the coffee table, the wood groaning a little at the weight of two grown men, so they were face to face with Kobik. Matt kept her hand in his.

“I’m scared,” Kobik whispered. 

“What’re you scared of?” Bucky asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what you’re afraid of?”

“No. I’m scared cause I don’t know.”

“Know what?”

“Lotsa stuff,” she shrugged. “They were- It broke, no, I broke, I don’t know. I wasn’t there, and then I was. It - I - broke, and they fixed it and I was there, and I don’t know. It’s scary. Everything’s scary. Then they moved me and they’re bad people. I’m scared.”

“Don’t be scared,” Matt told her. “You’ve got us now.”

“Yeah,” Bucky agreed. “You wait here, we’ll be right back.” 

Kobik’s eyes followed them as they stepped into the bedroom, for some semblance of privacy, even if it was merely an illusion. No doubt with the kind of powers a cosmic cube had, Kobik could hear every word if she so chose.

“So, she was a cube, but now she’s a child?” Matt asked. “Or she was a child, but turned into a cube?”

“I dunno,” Bucky shrugged. ‘“This is way above my pay grade.”

“I thought you said you went to science fairs?” Matt eased.

“Yeah, but I didn’t say I was any good at it,” Bucky retorted. “My education ended in nineteen thirty one. What about you?”

“Yes, every teacher is in a hurry to hand the blind kid a bunsen burner,” he deadpanned.

“Alright, smart ass. I’m gonna take a few readings, send them to Shuri,” Bucky said. “Maybe she can figure it out.” Glancing towards Kobik, he added, “You okay with kids?”

Matt smiled.

“I grew up in an orphanage,” he replied. “You had to be good with kids, whether you wanted to or not. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Bucky nodded. He kissed Matt’s temple. “Good.”

Bucky retrieved the scanner from the bedroom, before sitting down opposite Kobik once more.

“Okay, see this?” he said, holding it up. Kobik nodded. “This is super smart machine that tells you if you’re healthy. If it’s okay with you, I’m gonna scan you with it, and send the information to my friend, so she can check that you’re okay, and that nobody hurt you. Is that okay?”

“Will it hurt?” Kobik whispered. The fear and resignation in her voice was heartbreaking. Matt had a sudden urge to cross the room and scoop her into his arms, to keep her safe and protected from all the Fisk and Ulysses Klaue’s of the world.

“Not at all,” Bucky assured her. 

“Okay,” she agreed.

“Atta girl,” Bucky grinned.

It only took moments for him to run the scanner through the air around Kobik. When the machine beeped, Bucky dropped his hand and grinned at Kobik once more.

“All done,” he told her. “Thanks munchkin. I’ll be right back. Think you can keep at eye on this guy until I get back?” he whispered, jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards Matt.

“Okay,” Kobik whispered back.

Once Bucky had disappeared out onto the roof to make his call, Matt crouched down in front of Kobik again, a reassuring smile on his face.

“You wanna help me make dinner?” he asked.

“Okay,” Kobik replied, somewhat warily.

Matt lifted her onto his hip and carried her into the kitchen, narrating the whole experience.

“Alright,” he began, opening the cupboard. “Now, what do we we think? There’s a box of mac and cheese. We could make mac and cheese, yeah? I think that’s a good plan. Can you grab the box for me? That one there. That’s it, good girl. And then the door? Great.”

“You can’t see,” Kobik said as Matt sat her on the counter.

“Not exactly,” Matt agreed. He was mindful of the fact that as a cosmic cube, Kobik could do almost anything she set her mind to, and if he said the wrong thing, he could suddenly find himself with his sight restored. And as much as he regretted the loss of his sight, he’d gained other things as a result. “I can’t see with my eyes, but I can see in other ways.”

“Like magic?” she asked with a child’s innocent, surprising a bark of laughter from Matt.

“Yes,” he grinned. “Just like magic.”

Matt filled a saucepan with water and placed it on the stove.

“You wanna turn it on?” he asked.

Kobik glanced at him nervously, then without anyone touching it, the stove sprung into life.

“Show off,” Matt teased. “Okay, when the water bubbles, we can put in the pasta,” he explained.

Kobik nodded, peering into the pot to watch the water. 

“It’s bubbly!” she cried a few minutes later. “Matt! Bubbles!”

“Good. You want to pour in the pasta?”

“Yes,” Kobik declared.

“Okay.”

Matt opened the box, before handing it to Kobik and lifting her up again, holding her by the stove so she could pour in the pasta.

“What now?” she asked.

“Now we have to wait for the pasta to cook,” Matt explained. “See the red numbers on the oven? What do they say?”

“Two zero zero four,” she read.

“Okay, when they say two zero one two, then the pasta’s ready. Do you want to grate some cheese while we wait?”

“Yes,” Kobik replied instantly. Then she frowned, “No. What’s grating?”

It turned out Kobik definitely did want to grate cheese once Matt demonstrated, and by the time Bucky returned, Kobik and the kitchen were covered in stray flecks of cheddar. Chuckling, Bucky picked a clump out of Kobik’s hair and put it in his mouth. 

“Having fun?” he asked.

“Yes,” Kobik nodded. “Matt! Two zero one two!”

“You have cheese in your ear,” Bucky informed Matt as he poured out the pasta. 

Matt stuck out his tongue, which sent Kobik into a fit of giggles. 

“Alright, pour in the cheese,” Matt instructed her, once he put the sauce in the pan. “Then we have extra cheesy mac and cheese. A supersoldier appetite special.”

“All done!”

“You want to stir?”

“Yes!”

“You know that’s just gonna result in sauce everywhere,” Bucky pointed out, retrieving three forks from the drawer. 

“You’re not paying rent,” Matt shrugged. “You can clean it.”

“It’s your apartment.”

“We cooked.”

“I’m a guest.”

“You’re a freeloader,” Matt teased.

“Freeloader, he says,” Bucky sniffed. 

“What’s a freeloader?” Kobik asked.

“Someone who lives here without paying rent,” Matt explained.

“Am I a freeloader?”

“No,” he chuckled and reached out to wipe a dollop of cheese sauce from her nose. “You’re too small to be a freeloader.”

“Oh. Okay,” she shrugged.

Later, once the mac and cheese was eaten, the dishes were done, and the apartment was cheese-free once more, they lay in bed with Kobik snuggled in-between them. Her breathing slowed, her grip on Matt’s finger falling from deathly to slack. Bucky stared down at her, sweeping her hair back off of her face.

“Shuri’s got a theory,” he murmured. “Whoever had the cube before Klaue messed around with it until they created Kobik. Not that they knew that.”

“She’s powerful,” Matt said. He could feel the power thrumming in her veins, even now, when she was asleep and beginning to drool on Bucky’s shoulder. “She’ll need to be taught how to control it.”

Bucky nodded. 

“Maybe the Avengers,” he suggested. “Captain Marvel maybe? She’s superpowered and alien, right? Plus she’s married. Maybe she can take her.”

“Maybe,” Matt nodded, that surge of protectiveness returning. “Not yet though.”

“Right,” Bucky agreed. “Not until she’s safe from Fisk.”

Matt pushed up onto one elbow, leaning over Kobik as carefully as he could lest he wake her, and brushed his lips over Bucky’s.

There was something undeniably right about falling asleep next to Bucky with Kobik curled in between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me rambling on tumblr here: [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com)  
> 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Bucky fall for Kobik, and Fisk makes his move.

“Hey short stuff,” Bucky smiled, perching on the edge of the mattress to watch Kobik wake up. She blinked owlishly at him, curling in on herself, before reaching out one hand towards him. Bucky chuckled, warmth filling his heart as her fingers wrapped around his index finger. It was easy, sitting here in the light of the morning with Kobik watching him with sleep-filled eyes, to be hopeful for the future.

Of course, the blow job from Matt in the shower before Kobik woke up helped.

“You hungry?” Bucky asked. Kobik nodded. “Alright, come on,” he said, lifting her out of bed. 

By the time Matt joined them, they’d made breakfast. And, okay, it was only frozen waffles, but Bucky felt he still deserved some credit, due to the fact that the last time he made breakfast was 1945. Matt kissed the top of both their heads before sitting down, and the warmth in Bucky’s heart continued to spread, until he was smiling into his waffles like an idiot.

Kobik insisted on helping with the washing up, which led to bubbles flying halfway across the apartment. But her face lit up when she laughed, a high pitched giggle that bordered on a screech, so Bucky couldn’t bring himself to care. Matt came up behind him as he wiped down the sink, wrapping his arms around Bucky’s waist and whispering, “You have bubbles in your hair,” into his ear before placing a series of small kisses on his neck.

Bucky shivered. 

Forget the sex - actually, no, _don’t_ forget the sex, because the sex was amazing - perhaps more accurately never-mind the sex, this was the headiest thing he’d ever experienced. He felt breathless. He leaned back into the embrace, his head falling onto Matt’s shoulder, and thought to himself _It would be too easy to fall in love with this man_. 

Over on the table, his phone began to ring, drawing him out of the bubble where there was nothing but him and Matt and Kobik. Bucky reluctantly detangled himself from Matt, crossing to grab his phone and pointing upstairs.

“Be right back,” he called.

Matt nodded, already moving towards Kobik.

“Sergeant Barnes,” Shuri smirked when he answered the call.

“Knock that shit off,” he scowled, a grin already making its way onto his face. “What do you got?” 

“I have got your test results,” Shuri replied. “The girl is the cosmic cube we were looking for. Someone was experimenting on it, on her, and it broke. When they repaired it, they used a section from another cosmic cube. This created her consciousness. But, because the consciousness is new and is bombarded by all this information that she doesn’t understand how to process, she takes the form that she feels best represents this confusion and lack of knowledge.”

“A child,” Bucky supplied.

“Precisely. A child with unlimited power.”

“And who could potentially be manipulated into using that power for anything.”

“Yes,” Shuri nodded. “If the wrong person found her, they could do terrible things.”

“Shit,” Bucky exhaled. “I mean, we figured this. Talked about it last night. We thought maybe the Avengers could take her, but… I dunno. SHIELD, Hydra, it’s all too close.”

“Maybe you should keep her,” she suggested.

“Don’t be crazy,” Bucky scoffed.

“Why is it crazy? You have a boyfriend now.”

“Yeah, and I’m still one of the most wanted men in the world. Not exactly father material.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Shuri scolded. “Now, I have to go make fun of my brother. Be careful, Bucky.”

“Always. Send me videos of you pranking him.”

“Only if you send me videos of your not-daughter,” Shuri smirked. Then she hung up before Bucky could reply.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to keep Kobik. He couldn’t. No matter how much the idea of raising her with Matt appealed to him. It wouldn’t be fair to her. Besides, there was no guarantee Matt even wanted that. They’d barely known each other a week; it was a little early to be planning their happily ever after.

And Bucky wasn’t the kind of person who got to have that.

X

Children were exhausting.

Matt had forgotten exactly how much innate curiosity they had, something that was seemingly double when they child in question was a cosmic cube and therefore had knowledge well beyond the average for a child of her age. Once she realised that neither Bucky nor Matt were genuinely never going to harm her, Kobik opened up completely. She bounced around the apartment with seemingly endless energy, chattering away to them ten to the dozen, with endless stories and questions and demands.

It was exhausting.

It was also amazing.

Over those two days, when he didn’t have to go to work, when the three of them hid away in his apartment, Matt realised that he’d handed his heart over to her hook, line and sinker. As the hours passed, he and Bucky mentioned the idea of handing her over to the Avengers less and less. By Monday morning, they hesitated over it, but neither of them wanted to be the one to bring it up. Instead, Bucky tied Matt’s tie around his neck, using it to tug him in from a kiss that was well on its way to becoming filthy, until Kobik shouted, “Yuck!” at them and they broke apart. They shared a rueful grin, then a much more chaste kiss, and then it was time for Matt to leave. He bent to hug Kobik where she slouched on the couch, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, and murmuring, “See you later.”

“Buh-bye,” she replied. 

Matt turned back to Bucky.

“Go,” Bucky said with a lop-sided smile. “I got this.”

“You sure?” Matt teased.

“Yes,” Bucky rolled his eyes and smacked Matt’s ass as they walked to the door, where he pulled him in for one final, final kiss. “Later, cupcake.”

“Bye,” Matt smiled.

He was still smiling as he walked to the office, still smiling while climbing the stairs and letting himself in, still smiling when he sat at his desk ready to start work.

And his smile only grew when his phone started chirping, “Bucky… Bucky… Bucky…”

“Miss me already?” Matt teased in lieu of greeting.

“He knows,” Bucky said.

“What?”

“Fisk knows. Your friend Karen’s here.”

His smile fell.

“What’s happened?”

X

“I can’t believe this!” Marci declared as she pummelled a pillow within an inch of its life. Bucky watched with horrified fascination as she attacked the innocent object, before replacing it behind Foggy’s back and moving onto the next pillow. “The fact that not only is that asshole out on the streets again, but that’s running around, attacking the people who actually tried to stop him, because the police were on his payroll or too chicken-shit to do anything about it in the first place.” 

With a muted scream, she slammed one final punch into the centre of the pillow.

“She is terrifying, and I love her,” Bucky whispered to Matt.

“I mean, what next? Where does it end?” Marci demanded. “Pretty soon he’s going to be running this city again, and who’s going to stop him?”

“We will,” Matt said. 

“Yeah, until he comes after you too,” Marci snapped. “I mean, your boyfriend there might have a chance of standing up to him, but honestly Matt? You have no hope.”

“Uh, Marci? Honey?” Foggy interrupted, and Bucky privately decided that he was the bravest of them all. "Any chance you could go grab me a soda and something to eat from the vending machine?”

“Alright.” Marci leaned forward, smacking a kiss against his cheek. “I’ll be right back, Foggy-bear.”

“I’m hungry,” Kobik whispered to Bucky.

Bucky glanced at her. He instantly recognised the expression of awe and adoration that she was giving Marci, and smiled to himself.

“Hey, uh, Marci? Can Kobik come with you?” he called.

“Sure,” Marci nodded.

Kobik scrambled down from her perch on the windowsill by Bucky’s shoulder and darted across the room to take Marci’s hand. 

Once the door closed, Foggy glanced hesitantly from Karen to Matt to Bucky, his mouth open, words obviously on the tip of his tongue.

“Bucky knows,” Matt said.

“Oh good,” Foggy nodded. “So, last week you’re looking into financials for the Presidential Hotel, linking it to Fisk, and then today I get beaten up by Fisk’s thugs? I’m guessing that’s not a coincidence?”

“No,” Matt confirmed. 

“Fisk bought something, something powerful, something dangerous in the wrong hands,” Bucky explained. “I was sent to find it. Friday night, we broke in and we stole it.”

“What was it?” Karen asked.

“It’s, uh, complicated,” Matt grimaced.

“Yeah,” Bucky agreed. That was certainly one way of putting it. “But why go after Foggy? I mean, if he knows who you are, then he knows where you live right? I mean, it’s not exactly the bat cave.”

“Wait, you know about _Batman_?” Matt frowned.

“Yeah. I was brainwashed, not dead.”

“Wait, what?” Foggy exclaimed.

“My guess? Because you used Vanessa’s palm prints to get in,” Matt explained. “He’s always been… very protective of her. The fact that you used her, makes it personal. So he went after Foggy to attack me in the same way. He might come after you too,” he added, turning to Karen.

“Let him try,” Karen muttered.

Bucky blinked.

“Okay, I don’t know whether to be impressed or terrified by the amount of badass women you two know.”

“It’s kind of awesome,” Foggy grinned. “But, backing up to the brainwashing part?”

“Yeah, long story,” Bucky waved him off. “I’m all good now.”

“We need to lay low,” Matt said. “All of us, until I can figure this out.”

“You mean until we figure it out,” Bucky corrected.

Matt turned his head towards him. Bucky could see the faint surprise return to his feature.

“We’re in this together, cupcake,” he murmured.

Matt nodded slowly.

“Until we figure this out,” he repeated.

The door opened, and Marci and Kobik rejoined them, both with snacks in their hands. Kobik broke into a grin and scampered towards Bucky, throwing herself at him without warning. Luckily, he had super soldier reflexes, enabling him to catch her before she could faceplate on the floor. 

“Hey Giggles,” he said, bouncing her on his hip.

“Your daughter’s adorable,” Marci informed him.

“Oh, uh, no,” Bucky shook his head. “We’re, uh…”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologised. “I just figured. “You two look alike.”

“We do?” Bucky studied Kobik. Yeah, maybe there was some similarities there, he figured. He smiled. “Thanks. That’s not exactly the worst thing in the world.”

“I have to get to work,” Karen apologised. “I’ll come back later though. Feel better.”

“Yeah, we should go too,” Matt nodded. 

They said their goodbyes, and when they left the hospital, Karen left for the Bulletin offices.

“So we can’t go home?” Bucky said. “Where to?”

“I know a place,” Matt replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me rambling on tumblr here: [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com)  
> 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky rediscovers a part of himself, and Fisk continues to come after them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Brief mention of child abuse in the church. It is alluded to briefly in one sentence. If you're worried, stop when Bucky talks about trusting priests and skip to the next chapter.

Even blind, Matt knew exactly what expression Sister Maggie wore as she stared at him, and it wasn’t a good one. It was the one that the kids in the orphanage knew meant that they’d fucked up, and that it was time to face the music before things got any worse.

He’d missed her. A little.

“Follow me,” she instructed, turning sharply on her heel and marching away, expecting them to follow and keep up, and if they didn’t, that was their problem. 

Bucky hoisted Kobik more securely onto his hip, and walked at Matt’s side, following Sister Maggie down under the church into one of the crypts.

“We use this for laundry,” Sister Maggie informed them, nodding towards the sectioned off part of the room at the far end. “And now apparently to hide the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.”

“You’ve heard of me,” Matt realised.

Sister Maggie rolled her eyes.

“I live in an orphanage Matthew, I’m not dead.”

Bucky snorted.

“Thank you Sister,” Matt nodded.

Sister Maggie eyed him critically, before nodding and leaving them to it. Bucky carried Kobik over to the smaller cot, setting her down on it, before fishing his tablet from his backpack and handing it over. Kobik’s hands danced across the screen, until the sound of _Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood_ filled the room.

“I gotta say,” Bucky said, returning to Matt, “I am loving the whole hobo chic look you’ve got going on here.”

“Very funny,” Matt smiled.

“No, seriously. Loving it.” Bucky took his hand. “Hey. We’re safe. You know that right?”

“Yeah,” Matt replied, and Jesus, he didn’t even sound convincing to himself, there was no way Bucky was going to believe that.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Bucky murmured. “Either of you. We’re a team, Murdock.”

“Murdock and Barnes.”

“Why do you get to go first?” Bucky groused.

Matt chuckled, drawing Bucky in, and dropping his forehead onto Bucky’s shoulder. Instantly, Bucky’s arms wrapped around him, his hand running up and down Matt’s spine, and some part of Matt’s brain insisted, _Safe_. In the arms of an assassin, here was where he was safe. 

Matt wasn’t sure if that was irony or karma.

Either way, he didn’t care all that much. 

“It’ll be okay,” Bucky murmured. “We’ll lie low for a few days, let everything calm down. And then we can go after Fisk. It’ll all work out.”

“Yeah,” Matt nodded. And standing there, in Bucky’s arms, the warmth of his body pressed against his, Matt could almost believe that.

X

Before, Bucky remembered his mother dragging them all down to church on a Sunday morning. He remembered Sunday school with his sisters, being bored during the sermons, and sniggering with Rebecca during the prayers. It wasn’t like this; his family wasn’t Catholic, not like Steve and Sarah. But faith was faith, however you dressed it up. 

Leaving Matt and Kobik down stairs, Bucky lingered at the back of the chapel, dodging out of sight of the congregation as they arrived for mass. mustering his courage, he slipped in to the back row as Father Lanthom began the service. It was awkward, at least until the first prayer when, for the first time in a long time, he began to believe that there might be someone listening again.

Then came confession. 

Father Lantom seemed like a decent guy, priest or not. He was the one who’d offered them the place to hide, and it seemed like he knew about Daredevil too. Bucky would’ve said if you were going to trust anyone, trust a priest, but the internet and the news had informed him that a lot of children had discovered that that wasn’t always true. Still, Father Lanthom was one of the good ones, and Bucky hoped he wouldn’t be too hard on him.

Closing the door of the confessional carefully, Bucky took a deep breath.

“It’s been… Honestly, I don’t know how long it’s been since my last confession,” he began. “But it’s been a long time. Father, I’ve killed people.”

“Why did you kill them?” Father Lantom’s voice replied.

Bucky swallowed.

“Because I was ordered to. Some of them were bad people. Some of them weren’t. But I didn’t care about that. I just followed orders.”

“My son, as much as we may wish otherwise, we cannot change the past. Sometimes, bad people take advantage of us. And we may do bad things as a result. It doesn’t absolve us of responsibility, but neither does it condemn us. Do you intend to kill again?”

“No,” Bucky replied. “I don’t do that anymore.”

“Then, my son, I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Go in peace.”

Bucky swallowed.

“Thank you Father.”

He felt… lighter somehow. As if going to confession, receiving absolution meant that he could face up to a part of himself that had been lost a long time ago. The part of him that remembered his mother, always so strong in her faith and her beliefs. Strange as it sounded, he felt like he was allowed to remember her now, without the weight of everything he’d done tainting the memories. 

Making his way back downstairs, Bucky found Matt disposing of the last of their take-out containers, with a soft smile for Bucky when he appeared.

“Hey,” Matt called.

“Hey,” Bucky echoed, slinging his arm around Matt’s shoulders. “Where’s the small one?”

“Asleep,” Matt smiled. “She wanted to wait for you, but she couldn’t.”

Every moment that passed seemed to provide new ways for Kobik to worm her way into Bucky’s heart. Ever since Marci had mistaken her for his daughter at the hospital that morning, he’d known that there was no way he could give her up. And now, it was time to admit it to himself. Slipping behind the makeshift curtain that separated her cot from the rest of the room, Bucky bent on one knee, brushing back her hair to press a kiss to her temple.

“Goodnight sweetheart,” he whispered. 

He lingered for a few moments more, drinking in the sight of that perfect little being, before dragging himself to his feet. Toeing off his boots, Bucky stripped off his jeans, tossing his knife and guns onto the table before lowering himself onto the cot next to Matt with a low groan. He let his head loll to the side, smiling at the fact that Matt’s face was right there, next to him, his body pressed up against his side.

Bucky crooked his finger. 

“C’mere.”

Matt smiled, pushing himself up onto his elbow so he loomed over Bucky, before lowering his mouth until they were kissing. And kissing Matt felt like flying, which was crazy, but God help him, it did. He nipped at Matt’s lower lip, before licking his way into his mouth, barely managing to muffle the groan that escaped when Matt shifted on top of him.

“We really doing this in a church?” Bucky murmured.

Matt just grinned, his hips moving of their own accord. Bucky groaned - quietly, because Kobik was _right there_ , and okay, he had to stop that train of thought _now_.

“Whatever. I’m already going to hell,” he muttered and yanked Matt down again.

X

The sound of his cell phone dragged Matt from sleep with a groan. He was warm and comfortable, tucked under Bucky’s chin and sprawled halfway across his chest. The last thing he wanted to do was wake up. But his phone continued to bleat, _Karen… Karen… Karen…_ until he had to admit defeat. With another groan, he pushed himself up using Bucky’s chest, and earning himself a grunt, and grabbed the phone from in-between Bucky’s knife and Glock.

“Yeah?” he groaned, flopping back down onto Bucky’s chest. Immediately, Bucky’s hand came up, winding itself into Matt’s hair and scratching his scalp. It felt good.

“Matt? Hey, it’s Karen.”

“You okay?” Matt frowned.

She sounded shaken.

“Not really. Some of Fisk’s goons just tried to kill me.”

“Are you hurt?” Matt demanded, shooting upright. Below him, Bucky woke with a start. “Where are you?”

“I’m safe,” Karen assured him. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to say incase someone’s listening, but I’m safe. They didn’t hurt me.”

“Really?”

“Really. I shot one of them. In the arm. Honestly, they weren’t his best. They were already looking pretty scared when I took out my gun, and then they freaked when I shot it.”

“He underestimated you,” Matt smiled.

“Well, he wouldn’t be the first one.”

The silence hung between them, all the almost-were and could-have-beens lingering with the words spoken in anger.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Yeah. Just… Just get him. For all of us. Yeah?”

“We will,” Matt promised.

“Good,” Karen replied, and then he was left with only the dialling tone in his ear.

“What is it?” Bucky asked.

“Fisk went after Karen. She’s fine,” Matt explained.

“Son of a bitch,” Bucky swore.

Matt allowed Bucky to pull him back down, soaking up a few more moments of warmth before they had to get up, but he knew that no matter what they did, Fisk wasn’t going to allow them to just walk away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me rambling on tumblr here: [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com)  
> 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fisk gets married, and Matt makes his play.

“I’m back,” Bucky called as he jogged down the steps into the crypt-slash-laundry room, a bag of Chinese in hand. “Traffic is crazy out there because, guess what? Our friend the dickward got married tonight.”

He came to a stuttering halt when he stopped Sister Maggie waiting for him instead of Matt. He offered her a bashful grin. 

“Should I just start the hail Mary’s now, or…?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied. “I seemed to go temporarily deaf for about thirty seconds, before my hearing miraculously returned.”

Bucky grinned.

“You’re awesome,” he informed her.

“Buckaroo, I’m hungry!” Kobik called. She was perched on her cot, with his tablet in hand.

“I got food. Come get it,” he replied. “Where’s Matt?” he asked, frowning when he couldn’t spot the other man. 

“He went out,” Sister Maggie replied, and her tone was far too measured, her words far too careful. Bucky knew that something was wrong. “Asked me to watch Kobik until you got back.”

“Where did he go?” Bucky asked, even though he already knew.

X

“Who is this?”

“You know it is,” Matt replied.

A pause, and then, “Mr Murdock. What can I do for you?”

“You’re going to leave the reception, and go up to your penthouse. We need to talk.”

“What make you think I want to talk to you?”

“You hurt my friends,” Matt hissed.

“You stole from me,” Fisk retorted.

“Then let's work this out between us.”

Another pause.

“Ten minutes.”

Matt hung up. 

He leaned back against the spire of the church, just listening, letting the sounds of the city wash over him. 

This was home. 

(No. No, home was his apartment, with Kobik’s laughter, and Bucky in his bed, and being surrounded by warmth)

_Bucky… Bucky… Bucky…_

“Hey,” he picked up the phone.

“Come back,” Bucky pleaded. “Come back to me. Please.”

“You’re scared,” Matt realised. “Why?”

“You know why.”

He did. God help him, he did. He knew. Bucky was scared for the same reason that Matt was alone on this church spire, about to go into Wilson Fisk’s penthouse and face him and end this alone.

“Come back to me,” Bucky whispered.

“I might not be able to do that,” Matt admitted. “I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. And in another life-“

“No,” Bucky interrupted. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare say goodbye.”

“You know, I can hear you,” Matt said. “Right now. I can hear your heart beat. I would recognise it anywhere.” He swallowed. “I’m sorry Bucky. I love you.”

And he hung up before he could say any more.

This ends tonight.

X

When the elevator doors opened and Fisk and Vanessa walked into the penthouse, Matt was waiting.

“You said we needed to talk,” Fisk said.

“I did,” Matt nodded.

“I am not sure that we have to discuss. You stole from me, in the latest of a long line of inconveniences. Your friend used Vanessa to get in to this apartment. You have tried, time and time again, to curtail my business. I think perhaps, I am done talking Mr Murdock.”

“You hurt my family. So that’s fine by me.”

Then, with a scream, they threw themselves at each other.

Where Matt had training and speed, Fisk had brute force. His blows were agonising and breathtaking. Matt’s head swam as he fought to regain his footing. They slammed into the wall, and his shoulder screamed. He gulped for breath, raised his fists, and unleashed a fury of blows upon Fisk, the most successful of all a straight punch to the face that made him stumble back. 

It was an opening.

Matt swung his fist again, only to have it blocked and to receive a bruising blow to the stomach. He crumpled, trying vainly to duck Fisk’s fists, but he was tired and in pain and combined with brute force, they outweighed his skill and left him barely hanging on. Fisk raised his fist, ready to deliver a final crushing blow and all Matt could do was brace himself for the inevitable-

“Hey, asshole!”

 _Bucky_.

X

“Hey, asshole!” Bucky yelled.

Fisk froze and turned towards the sound of his voice. 

Bucky grinned. He enjoyed watching the blood drain out of Fisk’s face, followed swiftly by the fire of anger as he took in Bucky’s metal hand around Vanessa’s neck. 

 _Now you know how I feel_ , he thought.

Fisk tossed Matt aside and started towards them.

“Ah ah!” Bucky called, clenching his fingers just enough that they began to pinch Vanessa’s skin. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. See this hand? It’s vibranium and gold. You know vibranium, right? Strongest metal on Earth. Famous for the shield of Captain America. You really wanna test that strength on your wife’s neck?”

“You won’t,” Fisk swore.

“Oh yeah? You think?” Bucky smirked. “Try me. You don’t know who I am. You don’t know what I’ve done. I make you look like a tiny drop in biggest, baddest, bloodiest pond in history. I have more kill to my name than anyone. I’m the Winter Soldier, dumbass.”

Fisk tried to remain impassive, but Bucky could see the flicker of uncertainty, the recognition of that name, and he realised that running away from who he was and what he’d done wasn’t going to work. 

He was the Winter Soldier, assassin.

He was James Buchanan Barnes, sidekick to Captain America.

But most of all, he was Bucky, the man who loved Matt Murdock and would fight at his side for as long as he wanted him.

“Do you really think you can kill her before I kill you?” Fisk asked, and it sounded like idle curiosity. Vanessa trembled under his hand.

“Maybe not,” Bucky shrugged. “But I could do some damage.”

“She’ll recover,” Fisk declared.

“But your baby won’t,” Matt called.

With four words, it was as if Matt had somehow succeeded in sucking all of the air out of the room. Fisk paled, his skin the colour of his silk suit, his eyes flying towards Vanessa and flickering between her face and her stomach. Bucky laughed.

“Ironic, huh? You came after my family, and now I hold yours in the palm of my hand.”

“Vanessa…” Fisk breathed.

She nodded.

“No prison can keep me,” he hissed. “I will never stop hunting Karen Page. Or Foggy Nelson. I will tell everyone who you are.”

Matt lunged forward, knocking Fisk to his knees, rounding on him with his fists raised, and Bucky sucked in a breath. 

Then Matt stopped.

“You want me to kill you,” he realised. “No. No, you don’t get to destroy who I am. You will go back to prison. You will live the rest of your life in a cage, knowing you will never have Vanessa, that you will never see your child grow up, that this city rejected you and that I beat you.” Matt dropped to his knees and yanked up his mask. “You will keep my secret, and you won’t harm Karen Page, or Foggy Nelson, or Bucky, or my daughter, or anyone else. Because if you do-“

“If you do I’ll kill your wife and child myself,” Bucky finished, clenching his fingers for effect. “And if you think I won’t kill a child, won’t kill a baby, I’ve done it a hundred times before.”

“Do we have a deal?” Matt whispered.

Fisk looked between them - from Matt to Vanessa, to Bucky and his hand on Vanessa’s throat, and back to Vanessa - then nodded.

With one final punch, Matt knocked Fisk out and sent his sprawling across the floor.

X

When she saw then, Kobik let out an unholy shriek and threw herself at Matt and Bucky.

“You’re back!” she cried. “You’re back!”

“We’re back,” Bucky confirmed as they wrapped their arms around her. They’d tried to wipe off the worst of the blood from their clothes before they saw her, but Kobik seemed unperturbed by it all. Matt figured that was probably a good thing, if she was going to be the daughter of Daredevil and the Winter Soldier.

“Don’t leave,” she begged. “Don’t leave me. Please?”

“We’re not going to leave you,” Matt promised. “We’re never going to leave you.” He kissed the top of her head. “We’re family.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Matt once said in the comics that he could recognise Natasha's heartbeat anywhere. Only the epilogue to go. Since it's a short one, I'll post it tomorrow.
> 
> Find me rambling on tumblr here: [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com)  
> 


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for a long awaited reunion.

“Wasn’t her hair black the other day?” Foggy frowned at Kobik, where she trailed behind Marci as she chatted to Foggy’s relatives, gazing up adoringly at the older woman.

“It was,” Matt confirmed. “But her hero worship of Marci, combined with seeing Captain Marvel on TV resulted in her changing her hair colour last night. We’re going with it.”

“Still can’t quite get my head around the fact that your kid is a cosmic cube in human form,” Foggy shook his head.

“Get used to it,” Bucky mumbled around a mouthful of sandwich as he joined them. “Try not to think about it too much though. It gives you a headache. Though Matt’s blowjobs are great at clearing that.”

“I’ll pass, thanks,” Foggy grimaced.

“By the way, your brother makes a mean sandwich,” Bucky added.

“Thank you. You know, it’s really hard to picture you as the world’s deadliest assassin when you always have food in your hands.”

“Super soldier metabolism,” Bucky shrugged. “Listen, I think our car’s here.”

Matt listened; sure enough he could pick up the thrum of a high class engine, German made, idling outside the shop.

“Yes, it is,” he nodded.

“Show off,” Bucky muttered, before swallowing the last of his sandwich. “Thanks for watching Kobi. And for the sandwich.”

“No problem, Mr Winter Soldier, sir,” Foggy replied.

Bucky chuckled.

“I like him,” he declared.

“Good,” Matt smiled. “See you, Foggy.”

X

Bucky stared out at the city, watching it grow smaller as the elevator rode smoothly upwards. With every metre they rose into the sky, the more his nerves increased. He still wasn’t entirely sure he was ready for this.

But then Matt took his hand and squeezed it, and Bucky knew that no matter how much it scared him, he could do anything with him by his side.

“By the way,” he said. “I never got the chance to say. I love you too.”

Matt smiled.

With a quiet ping, the elevator doors slid open, and Bucky could hear a familiar voice, arguing as usual. One final glance to Matt, and they stepped out of the elevator.

“-which is worse, Tony. And all these thoughts just keep going round and round in my head, and I don’t even know-“

From experience, Bucky knew that this could go on forever unless someone stopped it. 

So he did.

“Hi Steve.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we are! Thank you so much to everyone who's read, kudos-ed, or commented on this fic. 
> 
> Fear not, this isn't the last time you'll see this little family. There are more stories planned in this verse. The next one focuses on Steve & Tony's relationship, but the Barnes-Murdock family will be there too! 
> 
> Find me rambling on tumblr here: [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com)  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> A vigilante with two sticks and a God Complex is my new favourite description of Matt. 
> 
> Find me rambling on tumblr here: [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com)  
> 


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